A life of suffering resonates deeply for me. Not pessimistic or optimistic but realistic. It’s part of life. Switch on the news, open a newspaper, listen to your mind chatter. I have always suffered. It’s a great teacher. There is suffering all around us. Every moment there it is. Yet every moment there is a […]

It’s taken 21 years to find out a few things about zazen or should I say my life. My practice is ‘just sitting’. This is about something meaningful to me. That has happened very slowly, that has taken time. In my bedroom I sit and face the wall for 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. This […]

Many thanks to Karen Robbie for sharing these poems about her experiences on the last Crosby sesshin in October and for this image of her painting, Flower. Morning Zazen The zendo warm and smoky. Glowing with a candle. I sit on my zafu. The fold of robes as they fall. Think about words. Letting […]

We are currently gathering contributions from sangha members of the theme of showing up with our insecurities. Here Karen shares her experience of facing hers on a Chan retreat. In between branches the moon bright and clear I look up I arrive in the dark in the mud. A bright head torch and a friendly […]

Most days I walk my dog. He’s the one that sniffs I’m the one that sees. I look at the same things everyday, trees, sky, clouds, kites, mountains, moorland and sheep. I’ve become very close to nature since I moved to Wales. I live nine hundred feet up and it’s wild and empty in a […]

Passing time losing myself in small birds. Tweets & twitters of delightful buddhas, never reaching the crescendo of a troubled world. Slipping in, a pigeon sits, cooing gently, with the kindly nature of a monk in grey robes.

First day of sesshin with endless possibilities I’m here to find out what my body needs, begins to hurt bones in a furnace time is slow, time aches in straight spine inside this human triangle there is space to feel fear at a deeper level I might go off the edge days continue in silent […]

Here’s a wonderful post from Karen Robbie who has just been on the Crosby Retreat: “My name is Karen Robbie. I have been practising zen for 19 years. I would like to share a few of my personal thoughts on silence. I’ve always wanted to write something about silence. It feels difficult to write about […]

This week, a short but lovely piece from Karen Robbie reflecting on accepting imperfections. It’s great to have a contribution from someone who’s a bit off the beaten track – Jez and Karen’s place in mid Wales doesn’t lend itself to weekly dokusan at The Dojo, and part of the reason for this blog is to help us keep in touch with remote sangha friends.